Theme & Variations introduces a new topic each week, presenting a wide range of music associated with that theme. Drawn from a millennium of Western classical music, the selections are an eclectic mix of familiar favorites and rarities. Theme and Variations is produced locally in Discover Classical's studios by host Joe Law.
This week brings you a second program paying tribute to musicians who died in 2024. The composers represented are Alexander Knaifel, Barbara Kolb, Aribert Reimann, Wolfgang Rihm and Paul Schoenfield. The performers are April Cantelo, Andrew Davis, Steve Davislim, Byron Janis, Benjamin Luxon, Leif Segerstam and Colin Tilney.
Today’s program returns to the music form it’s named for, with sets of variations for two performers. The composers are Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Benjamin Britten, Mauro Giuliani, Olivier Messiaen, Franz Schubert, Hale Smith and Carl Maria von Weber.
In recognition of Black History Month, today you’ll hear music by composers of African descent: David Baker, Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges), Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Justin Holland, Fela Sowande, William Gant Still, Errolyn Wallen and Thomas Wiggins.
